Harvard has LOVE: Living Organizational Voluntary Entities. Among them are Bare Hill Pond associations, conservation lands and trails groups, the Fire Department, public library, Harvard Schools Trust, Fruitlands Museum, Harvard Historical Society, and many more.
The LOVEs of Harvard exhibit character, purpose, preferences, antipathies, health and sickness, active works and projects, provide benefits, have their own needs, enlist supporters, and often have their own mailing lists. They have many of the dynamic aspects of living organisms and are a vital part of the living Harvard community.
Involvement in these activities gives us a perspective about the place where we live, as did the first photos from space showing Earth as a beautiful, blue, green and white “marble” floating in black space, which needs loving attention and active care and gives back much more.
With my late wife, Ginny, I lived in Harvard for 50 years and considered it our “First Heaven,” before realizing, at the age of 85, that living in New England weather is actually optional (though I usually bragged that I could handle the snow, ice, and cold with ease). Now, living happily with Pat in San Diego—my Second Heaven (1912 was the last time it hit freezing here)—I see Harvard from a 3,000-mile distance, and it still looks beautiful and well worth the loving care that Harvard’s LOVEs continue to provide.
Bill Thurston
San Diego
